Aston Martin closes factory doors following coronavirus lockdown

The luxury carmaker joins a long list of shuttered carmakers.

By: Dominik Wilde

Mar 25, 2020 at 5:20am ET

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Following the UK government's decision to impose strict restrictions on life in the UK amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Aston Martin has confirmed that it too will suspend manufacturing operations, joining BMW, Ford, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, and Nissan in temporarily closing its UK factory doors.

Aston Martin was one of the last carmakers to announce such a move, but with all-but-essential work and travel in the UK now heavily restricted, the company was left with no choice.

"Aston Martin is today confirming the temporary suspension of all manufacturing operations at its UK plants in line with the latest UK Government instructions on the fight against COVID-19. The suspension will come into force at all sites simultaneously tonight," the company said in a statement released today (Tuesday).

"The business has taken this difficult but appropriate action in its determination to fully support the UK Government’s measures on slowing the spread of COVID-19 and, crucially, to protect the health and safety of its workforce, its suppliers, and their families.

"The period of manufacturing suspension is initially planned to Monday 20 April 2020, however, the business will continue to review the situation and will look to resume operations as soon as it is reasonable to do so."

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Aston Martin Lagonda President and Group CEO, Dr Andy Palmer said: "It is our responsibility to ensure we do all we can to support the Government’s efforts in slowing the spread of COVID-19 over the coming weeks and, with the health of our amazing workforce front and centre of our minds, we have taken the tough decision to temporarily suspend operations at our sites around the UK.

"I hope and believe that our national fight against this dreadful virus will be successful and as soon as we have the ability we will, of course, return to normal operations. In the meantime, I would like to wish everyone associated with this great company good luck, and good health."